Paternal
Paternal is a show about the brotherhood of fatherhood. Created and hosted by Nick Firchau, a longtime journalist and podcast producer, Paternal offers candid and in-depth conversations with great men who are quietly forging new paths in fatherhood. Listen as our diverse and thoughtful guests – a world-renowned soccer star in San Diego, a Oglala Sioux elder in South Dakota, a New York Knicks barber in Queens, a pioneering rock DJ in Seattle and many more - discuss the models of manhood that were passed down to them, and how they're redefining those models as they become fathers themselves.
- Update frequency
- every 14 days
- Average duration
- 37 minutes
- Episodes
- 104
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
#57 Paternal Workshop: The Masculinity Trap
Award-winning research psychologist and professor Dr. Michael Addis returns to Paternal for the third in a series of special episodes examining various issues affecting men’s mental health. In this e…
#56 Max Lowe: Daddy’s On The Mountain
One world-renowned climber dies and leaves a widow and three young sons behind, and his climbing partner and best friend helps pick up the pieces by marrying the widow and helping raise a trio of boy…
#55 Daniel José Older: Fatherhood In A Galaxy Far, Far Away
#54 Mickey Rowe: The World Needs What Makes You Different
Mickey Rowe has made a career out of one simple motto: The world needs what makes you different. An autistic actor who started out as a street performer in Seattle but was never given speaking roles …
#53 Brendan Kiely: Reckoning With Our White Privilege
Author and teacher Brendan Kiely has spent years speaking to young adults about the difficult issues they might face in their teen years, and he’s in awe of the amount of hope that lies within the ne…
#52 Waubgeshig Rice: The Pressure In My Head
Growing up on the Wasauksing First Nation indigenous reserve in Ontario, journalist and bestselling author Waubgeshig Rice learned early in his life about the value of culture and community. But as a…
#51 Paternal Workshop: Holiday Anxiety and New Year’s Resolutions
Award-winning research psychologist and professor Dr. Michael Addis returns to Paternal for the second in a series of special episodes examining various issues in men’s mental health, and the final e…
#50 Ivan Maisel: Love And Grief
#49 Iain Cunningham: My Mother’s Ghost
Documentary filmmaker and father Iain Cunningham knows all about the myths we like to tell ourselves about family. But he knows just as much about the details our parents sometimes leave out, and the…
#48 Omar Mouallem: Faith and Fatherhood
#47 Paternal Workshop: Shame And Coming Up Short
Award-winning research psychologist and professor Dr. Michael Addis returns to Paternal for the first in a series of special episodes examining various issues in men’s mental health. In this episode,…
#46 Dr. Ian Kerner: The Sex Episode
Dr. Ian Kerner is a licensed psychotherapist and nationally recognized sexuality counselor who specializes in sex therapy, couples therapy and working with individuals on a range of relational issues…
#45 Jesse Thistle: Tracing Our Fathers’ Footsteps
#44 Jelani Memory: How To Have Tough Conversations With Your Kids
When it comes to being a father, Jelani Memory lives by a fairly simple motto: Kids are ready to have difficult conversations. He and his wife have put that idea into practice with their six kids and…
#43 Jordan Shapiro: The 21st Century Father Figure
It doesn’t really matter if you’ve seen a single episode of the 1950s sitcom Father Knows Best to understand the template for what a TV dad is supposed to be like. He works hard all day and inevitabl…
#42 Joshua Mohr: Father, Son, Addict, Survivor
#41 Chris Jones: When Life Becomes A Smoking Crater
Journalist and screenwriter Chris Jones spent 14 years as a contributing editor and writer-at-large for the men’s magazine Esquire, writing everything from celebrity profiles on George Clooney and Pe…
#40 Dr. Michael Addis: The Isolation Of Modern Men
#39 Chris Ballew: Fame, Fatherhood, and Caspar Babypants
Even before his third birthday, Chris Ballew was transfixed by music. He would sit on the floor in his parents’ Seattle-area home and listen to The Beatles’ seminal 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely He…
#38 Jayson Greene: The Language of Grief
When Jayson Greene was in the fourth grade, his teacher gave him an assignment that most kids get at some point in grade school: What do you want to be when you grow up? Jayson mentioned two goals fo…